You’ve spent countless hours reading your material, and you find yourself hitting a roadblock. After studying for long periods of time, you are tired, and your mind is beginning to wander. You may even begin to experience body aches from the stress. There’s so much information you need to learn to pass the state board examinations, but you’re having trouble focusing. How can you continue to study while giving yourself a break?
Studies have shown that coloring has plenty of educational benefits. Not only can you relax and enjoy the therapeutic act of coloring, but you can also learn at the same time! You may think that you can’t learn while having fun, but that is not the case as coloring stimulates the brain.
While coloring can be a downtime activity, it is also helpful for learning new material. Colors have a significant role in learning, with some colors encouraging the retention of information. When used properly, coloring can be a useful technique to add to your studying routine. Continue reading to discover some of the benefits of coloring while studying.
Associating Information with Colors
Studies have been conducted on the association between colors and learning. Warmer colors such as red, orange, and yellow have been discovered to increase the attention of the learner and encourage more knowledge retention. Cooler colors, such as green and blue, have been shown to invoke feelings of relaxation and calmness, thus improving memory through a relaxed setting.
What color comes to mind when you think about the word “danger?” Red is usually associated with danger, rejection or urgency, causing learners to pay more attention in fear of negative outcomes. Alternatively, the color blue has been associated with feelings of openness and freedom, increasing the creativity and focus of learners to achieve a beneficial outcome. A study was done where students were given information on different color slides, and those with blue slides retained more information than the yellow slides.
Red has been shown to provoke feelings of “danger and urgency.” This causes learners to become more alert through this color association and ready to retain information. When there is a sense of urgency, it is more likely that the information associated with red will move to both short-term and long-term memory. Another important note to keep in mind is that we recall colors immediately without conscious processing. This suggests that remembering the color with the key information you need can help you recall the information easier.
Coloring has a profound effect on learning. Warmer colors promote increased attention in learners by suggesting importance, while cooler colors encourage learners to remain calm, relaxed, and ready to learn. Using a study guide that incorporates coloring can increase your knowledge retention through the use of these beneficial colors.
Coloring as a Kinesthetic Learning Exercise
If you’re unfamiliar with the term Kinesthetic Learning, it is the process through which one learns from doing an activity hands-on. In this case, coloring while studying is a great example of kinesthetic learning. As opposed to reading the same material over and over again, you are learning the information as you are doing calming activities. This allows you to retain the information better while you are comfortable and engaging in an activity that you enjoy.
Utilizing kinesthetic learning exercises provides benefits such as:
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Supports cognitive, social, and emotional development
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Improves the brain’s ability to retain information
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Increases self-confidence in their capabilities
Coloring while studying allows you to take on a “hands-on” approach. You will be moving your body (even if it’s just your arms!) and stimulating your senses. Studies have shown that if you engage in physical activities while learning, you can better recall the information as you are burning excess energy and combating restlessness. Additionally, most people learn by doing rather than reading or listening. Partaking in an engaging activity can stimulate your mind in ways that reading and listening cannot.
Between the physical activity of coloring and the color association, you have a better chance of committing the information to both your short-term and long-term memory. An added bonus is that coloring in a study guide will not feel like you are doing work!
“Chunking”
Chunking is a powerful tool used to learn and retain information. This process breaks down large pieces of information into smaller pieces of information, making it easier for you to digest cognitively. This technique is most beneficial when learning locations, reading and learning music, learning words and letters, and remembering strings of numbers.
Imagine you are given 20 words to study and then asked to remember as much as you can. It probably wouldn’t be all 20, right? Chunking can be seen through tricks such as “Never Eat Soggy Wheaties” to remember North, East, South, and West. It is also seen within the alphabet as some of the common groups of letters are “ABC, LMNO, XYZ.” Large bits of information can be overwhelming, but reducing the size of information into multiple parts can make it more manageable and easier to learn.
Taking advantage of chunking techniques while studying is a valuable tool. By utilizing coloring along with dividing the information into smaller sections, you can learn little by little to improve the chances of remembering the information. As you learn one section, you can then move on to the next.
While chunking can help remember information, it is possible to misuse this technique. If you are spending too much time trying to remember a way to “chunk” the information, it is better to move on and learn a different way.
Relaxed Atmosphere While Studying
Studying can be tiresome and stress-inducing, especially if there is a lot of material to learn. When you sit down for a studying session, you want to create a relaxed and comfortable environment to encourage productive learning. This can be done by keeping distractions, such as a phone or the TV, to a minimum.
Another way to stay relaxed while you work is to color. Coloring has been shown to provide many health benefits. Some of these benefits include:
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Stress relief- Coloring helps to reduce stress as it calms your brain, in turn relaxing your body. As your mind and body begin to relax, you can focus on your breathing rhythm and check in on your heart rate.
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Reduces anxiety- While it won’t cure anxiety, coloring can lower your heart rate and breathing as you are focusing on one activity. Coloring is noncompetitive as there is no pressure to beat a clock, so it will keep your anxiety and stress levels low. Choosing coloring to relax can result in a boost in your mood and reduced mental health stress.
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Activates the frontal lobe- Coloring activates the frontal lobe as it is organizing and problem-solving. Coloring can unlock both sides of the brain at the same time, allowing for increased productivity.
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Simulates meditation- Meditation is a popular relaxation technique. During meditation, you are closing your eyes and focusing on your breathing and heart rate while focusing on one thought at a time. Similar to meditation, coloring brings you relaxation and avoids overstimulation as you are focusing on the activity at hand. As you become focused on one activity at a time, both sides of your brain should synchronize for improved retention.
Activates Both the Right and Left Hemisphere of the Brain
When you engage in coloring while studying, both hemispheres are activated in your brain. The right side of the brain is responsible for creativity, arithmetic, and writing, while the left side is responsible for dominant hand use, mathematics, analytic thinking, and approximately 92% of language skills.
Harmonizing the two sides of your brain has a significant effect on your overall health. When the left and right hemispheres work together in unison, you can retain more information as well as:
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Increased concentration
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Positive mindset
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Master stress
As both of the hemispheres work together, they begin working in what scientists refer to as “whole brain functioning.” When this happens, the corpus callosum is stimulated and encourages brain circuitry that causes the prefrontal cortex to become stronger and grow. In addition to coloring, meditation is another activity that stimulates both hemispheres of the brain.
A fun fact is that some of the most successful people in history were using both hemispheres at once!
Final Thoughts
Incorporating coloring into your study routine is a great way to help you retain and recall information. Some colors can promote more recollection than others, but the act of coloring itself is beneficial to help you remember key facts as both hemispheres of your brain are being activated at once. Using a study guide such as the Nurse Pharmacology Coloring Book will not only help you learn and review important information through color association and retention, but it will also help you unwind and reduce stress that comes along with test preparation.